The United States’ capital has turned into a military zone, ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in on Wednesday, ANI reported. Security has been significantly stepped up following the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill, in which five people lost their lives.

According to a report by The Hill, seven-foot barriers have been mounted around the US Capitol, its office buildings and and the Supreme Court.

“At a time when we need to unify; at a time when we need to say to the world ‘We are a beacon of democracy and a shining city on a hill,’ our own hill, Capitol Hill is an armed fortress,” ANI quoted Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Centre as saying.

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The elaborate security plan also includes the deployment of as many as 25,000 armed National Guard troops who were seen sleeping in nearly every corner of the Capitol.

An inauguration preparation like this was not seen since President Lincoln was set to take office amid the Civil War, the Hill reported.

Amid the threat of more pro-Trump rallies, the Secret Service is coordinating the largest security presence in DC history, the US media reported.

“There is a great deal of very concerning chatter, and it is what you do not know that we are preparing for. So I do not know if anyone has raised their hand to say, ‘We are coming. We will be there.’ But we are preparing as if they are,” special agent in charge of the Secret Service Washington Field Office, Matthew Miller, said during a press conference with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.

With that, the National Mall, which earlier witnessed a crowd of thousands during the oath ceremony of the President, is a deserted site and has been shut down to prevent any large gathering.

The high alert comes at the backdrop of FBI’s warning that it has received Intel on capitol riots like ‘armed protest’ being planned in all 50 US state capitols and Washington DC ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

“We are concerned, certainly, about these threats in other places,” incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klein told CNN in an interview.

Meanwhile, a Kentucky man was arrested and charged on Saturday in connection with the Capitol riots, reported PTI.